Nøkken : The Water Spirit

Chapter 12

​You Can Go Home​

Sefa had suffered much heartache in her life, but nothing compared to the pain that Åndeløs had caused her recently. She loved him with all her heart, and yet the man who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with could not even be honest with her and simply say that he no longer had feelings for her. She did not want to cry, but the tears came anyway. And when the tears flowed so did the anger !

​" A Nøkken ! And a Nøkken who killed my entire family no less ! If he doesn't want to be with me then why can't he just be honest and tell me the real reason why ! " she whispered to herself as she stood on the bank of the pond.

It was freezing outside, and Sefa had not dressed warmly enough, but she did not care. Live, or die, at the moment it mattered very little to her. With each frosty breath she became more and more desperate and confused. She had so many questions and not enough answers to soothe her swirling mind.

" I wish the damned pond wasn't frozen over ! A few minutes of agony, and this horrible nightmare would be finally over ! " she told herself.

She began to cry even harder when she realized how selfish she was acting. She had to live ! If not for her father, mother, or her first husband Vigarr, she simply had to go on for the sake of her son Haki. The thought of waking up every morning without Åndeløs, however, made her instantly sink deeper down into her depression.

Åndeløs watched Sefa from the window of the farmhouse bedroom, and knew that it was time for him to physically show his human wife what he really was. He had not realized that humans, faced with a truth that defied their sense of reality, would simply ignore the truth and accept a fantasy that better explained the situation in terms that they could grasp. Åndeløs decided it was better to show his wife, not with words, but with something that she could not deny. He would let Sefa see with her own eyes what his true form was.

Sefa heard the footsteps coming towards her as they crunched in the hardened snow. She refused to turn around to look at him, and continued to stare at the pond and the woods just beyond the water's edge. To Sefa's surprise Åndeløs did not stop and speak to her, but continued on to the pond without so much as a glance in her direction.

Åndeløs stood on the edge of the frozen pond for a moment before turning to face his human wife. Their eyes met for a moment, but Sefa quickly turned her red swollen eyes away. With a nod, that meant he understood her anger and pain, he place one of his feet on the ice in the pond. Instantly a fog of steam formed over the frozen water, and just as quickly the ice was gone, and rippling water replaced the frozen mass.

Sefa at first could not process what she was seeing. Right before her very eyes the pond ice had turned to water in an instant ! Then, as she watched her husband more closely, Åndeløs slowly backed into the pond, his eyes fixed upon hers in a frozen stare. And then,..... then,.... he began to change !

Sefa was trembling uncontrollably as she saw the handsome man she married slowly turn into some sort of horrible monster. His large masculine arms changed into what looked like the roots of a tree, and his perfect wavy hair turned into a tangle of pond weeds. When all that remained above water was his head, it's eyes began to glow like the stars in the night.

" I love you ! I always have and I always will ! " Åndeløs told her before he sank beneath the surface.

It was all too much for Sefa ! She took two step backwards before turning, hiking up her dress, and running as fast as she could back to the house. When she reached the front door she flung it open, and jumped inside as though she were being chased by a madman. As she quickly locked the door Haki ran out of his room to see what was wrong.

" Mother ! What is the matter ? ! " he asked in an alarmed tone.

Sefa pressed her back up against the door, and closed her eyes.

" Don't ever go down to the pond again ! Do you hear me ! Never Again !! " she yelled to her son.

Åndeløs floated wherever the winds took him in the pond that night. His only movement was to steer himself so that he always faced the farmhouse. He felt empty, alone, and extremely hurt. But when the light in Sefa's bedroom went out his heart sank to the bottom of the pond. He was home now, and here in this watery domain he would remain.